Facing the Truth, Facing You
by amillionsmiles
Summary: Zach and Cammie have parted ways after a deception on Zach's part, but then Macey shows up asking for Zach's help. Why? Cammie's missing. And Zach will have to come to terms with his past if he wants to save her. -DISCONTINUED-
1. Prologue

**For those of you that read my Gallagher Girls one-shots, a lot of you wanted me to turn the most recent chapter into a full-length fic. So, here it is!**

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><p><em>Prologue:<em>

_If I never lied then maybe you'd be the truth._

She has that look on her face again, the one where it's as if she's thinking hard about something. But he doesn't want her to have to think, not about something like this.

"Cammie," he says, catching a strand of her hair as it blows in the wind. He tucks it behind her ear, but his hand stays there, hovering.

"Zach." Somehow she makes his name sound like a statement, a question, and an answer, all at once.

"I'm sorry." She hasn't yet shoved his hand away, which is a good sign.

Her hand comes up to grab his. "For what?" she asks. She has a hard look in her eyes, and Zach knows she doesn't expect an answer. "For lying to me? For letting me believe that all this time you were… _good? _This whole time, you were just pretending. How could you, Zach? I trusted you._"_

"I was trying to protect you," he says, but the argument sounds weak even to his ears. Of all the words he knows, in all the languages he knows – Spanish, French – he can't find the right ones to express all the regret he feels right now.

_I love her._ The words surface, plain and simple, in his mind, but his mouth can't muster the courage to say them. The truth has always been there, lurking underneath, but he can't – he _won't – _admit it. He's been a spy for too long now. When you're a spy, Zach muses, you find out that lying is easy. Telling the truth is what's hard.

Telling the truth means you have to believe in it. And believing makes it real. Too real. So instead, Zach shoves down the feeling and lets go. He takes a step back.

"I'm sorry," he repeats, softly. "I guess I should have known you'd figure it out eventually. You always do, Gallagher Girl," he continues with a half-smile, the last one he'll ever give her. She doesn't say anything, and in the silence Zach almost reconsiders. _I could stay here, and fix everything._ But fixing things isn't Zach's forte.

He turns away and forces himself to walk. Inwardly he prays that if he sees her again she won't hate him. Of course, there's the problem: _if_ he ever sees her again.


	2. An Encounter

The sound of wine glasses clinking rang in the air as he leaned against a wall, observing but not interacting. Suddenly, though, someone addressed him.

"Mr. Goode." He turned to face a gorgeous woman with bright blue eyes and dark hair, clothed in a long evening gown. Her voice was soft, but held an edge. For some reason, it sounded familiar. He struggled not to let his uneasiness show, instead feigning indifference.

"I don't believe we've met," he said. The woman arched an eyebrow. She was beautiful, he acknowledged, but he felt as if her beauty disguised a deadly sharpness beneath it.

"You don't remember me?" she asked, acting disappointed. Her eyes never left his. "I thought spies were supposed to have excellent memories." Again, a surge of uneasiness welled up in his chest. Who was this woman?

"I've met many people in my lifetime," he responded. "I don't make it a habit to remember every single one. Spies may have excellent memories, but they are also trained to have priorities," he remarked. The woman smiled, but it didn't reach her eyes. She looked satisfied, though, as if she'd scored a point.

"Ah, yes. As I remember, in your high school years you definitely made a certain spy girl a _big_ priority." Zach stiffened, thrown off guard. What did she know about his past? He forced himself to relax. The woman could be faking, after all. Spies did that.

"I'm sorry, but I don't know what you're talking about. And I don't know much about you, either." The woman folded her arms.

"Well, that's quite obvious," she said dryly. "I know quite a lot about you, even though, sadly, you know next to nothing about me." Zach shrugged.

"I'll admit, something about you is vaguely familiar, but forgive me for not remembering your name." At his remark, the woman stepped closer, eyes glittering. She leaned in, her voice deadly quiet.

"You may not remember very many names, but I'm sure you remember this one: Cameron Morgan," she said, scrutinizing him for a reaction. Zach recoiled, as if he'd been struck. The name dug deep into him, reawakening memories and hurt feelings.

"You're not Cammie," he whispered, his brain numb with confusion. The lady shook her head.

"You're right, I'm not. It's me, Macey," she replied.

"McHenry?" he asked, incredulous, "What are you doing here?"

"I'm a spy, too, Zach," she said, using his first name for the first time that evening. "Our paths haven't crossed up until now, and I'm not here on a mission. It's more of a personal matter."

"What does that have to do with Cammie?" he asked, frowning. Macey lowered her voice.

"Cammie's gone missing. I need your help."

"What about Baxter and Sutton?" Zach asked, disguising the fear that crept into his mind. _Cammie's gone missing. _

"They're involved," Macey confided. "But we still need your help."

"You need me?" Macey nodded.

"Yeah. You're dependable, and you're close to Cammie." Zach dropped his gaze.

"I can't," he said, his voice strangled. "I betrayed Cammie. She knew about my mom, and she still trusted me, but there were other things that I didn't tell her…and when she found out, everything was over." Macey sucked in a breath.

"Zach," she said, quietly, "Whatever happened between you and Cammie back then, you have to put it aside. If you help us and we find her, you can fix it. You can make everything right again."

"She won't look at me," he said bitterly. Macey shook her head.

"Look, Zach, you've always struck me as the strong, solid type. You can't just let the girl you loved walk out of your life and then act like nothing happened." She didn't wait for him to respond. "I know you've tried to go on and forget about her, but that's not going to work." She pressed a slip of paper into his hand. "Meet me there tomorrow," she instructed, before stepping back and turning away.

He stared after her. The hush and whisper of an evening gown trailing on the floor was the only evidence that she had ever been in the room.


	3. Brush Pass

Zach pushed open the wrought-iron gate as he scanned the park for a sign of Macey. It was morning, around 10:00, and he'd made sure to arrive promptly at the time the note had instructed.

From around the bend came the sound of sneakers crunching on soil, and Macey rounded the corner in a pink tracksuit. Zach started toward her, but if she noticed him, she didn't look up. He stood in the middle of the pathway, waiting for her to stop. She didn't. Macey jogged right into him, falling backwards.

"Oh, I'm so sorry," she apologized, getting up. "I get a little immersed when I'm jogging."

_Something's wrong,_ Zach thought. He knew Macey had seen him. She was putting on an act, which meant that someone was listening.

"No, it's my fault for standing in the way," he played along, waiting for Macey to indicate whoever was eavesdropping. Sure enough, he saw her head incline slightly to the right. "I think you dropped something." He bent down, hands probing the ground while he glanced in the direction Macey had indicated. Two men sat on a bench, deep in conversation. Both wore sunglasses and crisp suits. Maybe to any other passerby, the two men would have simply been two businessmen having a nice conversation in the park, but to Zach, the men looked suspiciously out of place. With their sunglasses on, it was hard to determine where they were looking, but Zach had a feeling that at least one of them had his eyes trained in Macey's direction.

"Thanks." Macey made a show of accepting the imaginary item that she'd dropped. As she did so, she pressed another folded scrap of paper into Zach's hand. An excellent brush pass. Joe Solomon would have been proud, Zach thought_. _Then, in his head, he added, _Joe Solomon is gone._

"I'm sorry, I hadn't counted on this place being insecure," Macey said, her voice low. "Those are the directions to the next meeting place. I won't be the only one there, this time." Zach nodded, only slightly. Macey stepped to the side and resumed her jog. Zach listened for the creak that indicating the gate had opened. Then he continued in the opposite direction, intent on finding a back exit from the park.

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><p><strong>*Sigh* It's kind of short, I know. And for those of you who are curious about what Zach did to betray Cammie's trust, it's not going to be revealed all at once. It's going to be more in bits and pieces, where he has flashbacks. :)<strong>

**Review? :)**


	4. Middle Man

The piece of paper Macey handed off to Zach contained directions to an apartment on the opposite side of town. When he knocked, Macey opened the door furtively and ushered him in. Once inside, Baxter and Sutton were there, looking much like they had in high school. _At least some things don't change, _Zach reflected.

"Baxter. Sutton," he acknowledged them, nodding his head.

"Zach," Bex replied coolly. "I see you're doing well." Her voice was distant, polite. _Do they know? _Zach worried. _About what I did?_ An image of Cammie's hurt face flashed across his consciousness, her words ringing in his ears. _"You brought them here?" _Zach shook his head, trying to clear his thoughts, and turned to Macey. "McHenry, if you please, I'd like a full explanation, now."

"Why don't you sit down, first?" Macey suggested, indicating a well-worn chair. Zach eased himself into the seat, trying to maintain an air of casualness. Liz spoke up first.

"Cammie went on a mission. Not an authorized one – more like a side one. But she got us to back her up. She got a lead on the Circle of Cavan and ended up in Spain." Zach nodded.

"And you lost her there?" he asked. Bex frowned at him.

"We had a small team to work with," she justified. "It was a hush-hush mission, because nobody else knew except us three, Cammie, and one other person." Zach looked around the room, wondering if at that moment the person in question lurked behind a piece of furniture. Macey, seeming to intuit his thoughts, shook her head.

"He isn't here. He went with Cammie."

"What's the problem, then? Can't he find her?"

"Too risky," Liz cut in. "He went with her because he was supposed to be our middle man, so to speak. You know that comms units don't work overseas. We stationed him with Cammie so that Cammie could relay an information through him, to us." Zach nodded to indicate that he was following Liz's train of thought.

"The problem is, three days ago Cammie's messages stopped. Our middle man says that he hasn't heard from Cammie. He has no idea where she's gone."

"Are you sure that your 'middle man' is trustworthy?" Zach asked. "Maybe he's behind this whole thing? You don't think it might be a setup, to lure you three overseas into some kind of trap?" Liz shook her head furiously.

"That doesn't make sense," she explained. "If it's a setup, why not move earlier? He's been giving us information for a month or so now. Why would he choose this time to spring a trap?" Zach acknowledged her logic.

"Good point," he conceded. "Maybe it's not a trap. Still, are you sure you can trust this man?" _It's easy to put your trust in the wrong people,_ he added silently.

"He's trustworthy," confirmed Bex, finally speaking up. "At least, he'd better be, because if he isn't and I get my hands on him, he'll be sorry," she glowered.

"He's trustworthy," Macey assured Zach. "In fact, you already know him."

It was like the universe had conspired to tangle Zach up in all of this. He'd put Cammie – and everything else from his past – out of his mind for the past few years. But suddenly it was all charging back at him full force, and there was nothing he could do to stop it. Resigned, Zach wondered, "Who is it?"

Bex smiled for the first time that afternoon. "Grant."


End file.
